Above All Else: A Bad Boy Military Romance (Easy Team Book 2) (19 page)

Chapter
Twenty One
Sofia

              My lips still tingled from his kiss.

              And my heart was still racing from seeing him.

              He was here! He was really here!

              He had actually found me. He had done what I had assumed to be the complete impossible and had raced across the continent to reach me.

              And it blew me away.

              When he had appeared in the window, it was as if every childhood fantasy of a knight in shining armor had manifested itself all at once in Xander. It felt impossible, fantastical, and utterly beautiful to see him there.

              And when he wrapped his arms around me, it was impossible to hold back the tears of relief as I melted against him.

              Knowing he was here, knowing he had come for me, gave me a second wind that filled me with strength and confidence. I knew there was still a rising mob outside shouting for my head and Pryto was somewhere in the palace plotting my execution but I wasn’t as scared now.

              I had Xander.

              I took in a deep breath and carefully felt for the black disk he had slipped into my robe. I wasn’t exactly sure what I could get Pryto to say that would be meaningful enough to record.

              Plus, I wasn’t sure who would listen to this recording. Just because we got him to say a few revealing things doesn’t mean it would cause his army to suddenly disband. After all, a group that could execute their prince was a group serious about their movement.

              But I would do whatever it took to get me out of here and if Xander said that meant recording Pryto, that was exactly what I would do.

              My heart was still racing and my adrenaline pumping. I wanted Pryto to come right now while I still was on my high. I felt like if the moment was going to happen, I wanted it to happen right now when I couldn’t feel my nerves yet and I was still feeling the strength of Xander’s touch on my skin.

              But of course, the universe would never want to take it that easy on me. I paced the room back and forth, trying to keep my adrenaline up and my mind focused. But no one came. And I didn’t dare look out the window in case Pryto came in at that moment and caught me looking at Xander.

              After nearly wearing a hole in the rug, I slumped into a chair. All my emotions came crashing down on me at once. I was exhausted from the tension and fear and adrenaline. My shoulders were so knotted and tight, it felt painful just to turn my neck.

              I leaned back against the chair, trying to force my shoulders to loosen up. My chair faced the window and I imagined Xander out there, waiting, watching, guarding.

              Imagining him there soothed my shoulders a bit and I was able to loosen up just enough to ease back into the chair. I let my mind and body focus on the feel of Xander’s touch, the roughness of his stubble, the steeliness of his muscles, and that determined glint in his caramel eyes that made me think he could make anything possible.

              I don’t know when I fell asleep but I suddenly felt a hand stroking my cheek. My eyes closed, I made a small murmur as my thoughts drifted towards Xander. I imagined him smiling at me when I realized the hand that touched me was quite soft. Nothing on Xander was soft, especially his hands. The man owned a ranch, for heaven’s sake. He had constant callouses.

              My eyes fluttered opened and I saw Pryto standing in front of me, his hand touching my cheek.

              Immediately, I stumbled to my feet, jerking away from him. I nearly tripped over the chair in the process.

              “What do you think you are doing?” I demanded, wanting to scrub my cheek free of his touch. I was both disgusted and horrified.

              Pryto raised a sleek brow at me as if unperturbed by my reaction. “It has been a long while since I have seen you, Your Highness. And in your sleep you remind me very much of when you were a child.”

              He spoke as if recalling fond memories, which my childhood severely lacked.

              “What did it remind you of?” I asked coldly. “The years when I was black and blue from beatings or thin and sickly from being starved?”

              Pryto tutted at me as if I was being melodramatic. “Now, now,” he said. “Everything was done with your best interests in mind, Your—”

              “You’ve driven me out of my country, arranged a coup for my crown, and have murdered my uncle,” I said, my voice frigid and icy. “Could we now finally drop any pretenses we might’ve had? You never had any interest in my welfare when I was growing up. In fact, the only interest you probably had was in destroying it.”

              Pryto still stood in front of the seat I had just left. He was about a foot and a half from the edge of the bed. Still a safe distance away from the recording bug.

He stared at me with a look of amusement and calculation. I watched as his gaze studied me from head to toe and I suddenly felt very naked. I glared at him.

              “Perhaps you’re right,” Pryto said suddenly. He gave me a look of reluctant appreciation. “Perhaps my motivations back then
had
been to destroy you and your welfare but, clearly, I hadn’t.” He gave me another appraisal. “You didn’t die. You thrived.”

              “Once I was away from you,” I quickly corrected.

              Pryto gave a small chuckle as he rubbed his chin. “So perhaps you can be grateful about that. That school Switzerland was obviously a good one.”

              “Not that I had any choice,” I added again. “You made sure you threw me as far as possible from Loranza. I was already on a plane before I knew what was happening.”

              Pryto dismissed my accusations with the shrug. “Not much worse than what most royal children receive,” he said. “Besides, clearly you took advantage of the education. I have to admit, I had started believing those tabloid stories about you and your dabblings with Hollywood actors. Who knew a girl like you went to Harvard?”

              I narrowed my eyes at him at the backhanded compliment. “How did you find out about Harvard?” I asked.

              Pryto gave me a slow smile. “I did some studying up on you,” he said. “I had a proposal I wanted to present you with but before I did, I had to reacquaint myself with who you had become.”

              “I’m not interested in any of your proposals,” I said, crossing my arms. But I made sure to keep my arms from pulling at my robe so as to not tangle or cover the recording bug.

              Pryto eyes narrowed and the corner of his lip curled up. “Your Highness, outside there are about three thousand people waiting around the gates to hear from me. I will guess that number will quadruple once they hear you are in my custody. All I have to do is drag you out to those palace gates. You saw what happened to your uncle. And you are far less popular than he ever was. Before I could put a noose around you, I am positive they will stone you to death. In short,” he said with a leering smile, “your life is in my hands.”

              Although I knew Xander was just mere feet from me, hearing Pryto spell out my situation like that put a chill through me. The image of Uncle Gregory swinging from the rope still haunted my dreams.

              “Once I bring you out in front of the public, you will be forced to abdicate. You will be stripped of all your titles and your family line will die with you.” He took one step closer and I forced myself not to flinch. “Unless….”

              He paused, purposely teasing me.

              “Unless what?” I finally said, unable to take the suspense.

              Pryto put out his hands as if he were laying all his cards out on the table. “Unless you marry me,” he said simply.

              “What!” I nearly choked on the word. That was the absolute last thing I had expected the man to say.

              “When I said I had a proposal, I meant a quite literal one,” Pryto said. “If you marry me, you will still be able to retain your crown and title. I would of course take over the government but it would legitimize the new regime and would ease the turmoil in your country. You could finally do something of worth for you people by giving them peace. Isn’t that what Prince Gregory wanted you to do?”

              I stared at him in open-mouthed shock. Was he serious? I couldn’t believe this wasn’t some ridiculous prank but the man looked as grave as death and I could tell he meant it.

              I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t you ever speak my uncle’s name,” I hissed, my heart stinging raw every time I heard Uncle Gregory’s name spoken aloud. “You don't deserve to even whisper it. He was a good man whose name was slandered and destroyed thanks to you.”

              Pryto gave a dismissive shrug as if Uncle Gregory had been an inconsequential obstacle for him, which probably was exactly how the man had thought about my beloved uncle.

              Enraged, I continued, “As for your proposal, I’ve never heard anything more inane and ludicrous than what you just suggested. You think after everything you’ve done to me and my country, I could
ever
even
think
about marrying you?”

              “I thought you cared about your country,” Pryto goaded.

              “I do,” I shot back. “Which is why I would die before I left Loranza in the same hands of the man who ruined it. You destroyed the economy with belligerent trade agreements and ridiculous taxes. And I’ll tell you this, all this time you got away with it by blaming it all on me but kill me and you won’t have any more scapegoats. The country will see just how much you’ve ruined them. They’re angry and they have a right to be angry but you’re even deceiving them in their quest for justice. They don’t realize that the person who had treated them so unjustly is their own leader.”

              I could see anger and annoyance starting to rise in Pryto. His cheeks began to flush and the crease between his brow grew deeper.

              “You say that now but I have a plan to get Loranza not only back to its former glory but beyond it! I will usher in a new golden age of prosperity the likes of which will never have been seen!”

              “And how do you exactly plan to do that when the country is broke?” I demanded.

              “Weapons!” Pryto replied, his eyes suddenly taking on a dreamy gleam. I could tell this was a plan he had been sitting on for awhile and had been dying to reveal. Xander had been right. Pryto was not a shy talker.

              “Weapons?” I asked, confused. “What does that even mean?”

              “Loranza is in a unique spot when it comes to defense,” Pryto said, clearly relishing the big reveal of his plan. I tried to casually make sure the side of my robe with the bug was facing him. “We’ve been neutral for decades during most wars so we have no diplomatic sanctions against many countries that are still at war. And those countries, particularly in Africa and the Middle East, are always in need of a reliable supply of ammunition and weapons. Their instability will be our gold mine! I will open dozens of weapons factories and the constant demands for supply will rejuvenate Loranzian economy like never before!”

              If the marriage proposal hadn’t been shocking enough, this one was enough to bowl me over.

              “Loranza has been a neutral country because we promote peace,” I said slowly as if talking to an alien. “How can a peaceful country become a weapons manufacturing plant? Especially to known terrorist cells?”

              “Because it won’t
remain
a peaceful country!” Pryto shouted. “What has peace gotten us? Nothing! War will make us rich! And riches will make us powerful. We will have a true voice then on the global political stage!”

              “Yes, as terrorist allies!” I countered. “Loranza hasn’t taken part in a war in decades and it certainly will not live by supporting others to remain in perpetual war.” I shook my head. “
This
is your plan? This is how you plan to save Loranza? The people might be for you right now but that doesn’t mean they will support you in this new endeavor.”

              “But the authority of the crown and title might sway them,” he said. He looked practically manic from his excitement in his plans. “The people wouldn’t trust you as queen but they would trust
me
as king. That would help them understand the necessity of this new direction for the country.”

              Understanding dawned on me.

              “You weren’t fighting against the monarchy,” I said, accusation dripping from every word. “You were just fighting for your chance at the throne! You have no problem with a crown and a royal title so long as you’re the one wearing both. You hypocritical, murdering, bastard!”

              My head snapped back as Pryto stepped forward and slapped me hard across the face.

              My vision swam and I immediately felt my cheek and lip swell. I would definitely be bruised in a few hours. He had hit me so hard I wasn’t completely sure my cheekbone wasn’t fractured.

              “Call me what you might but at least I have a vision for this country!” Pryto hissed at me. “I am the savior this country needs! I am the true heir to the throne!”